1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general stepladders and in particular to a stepladder having a pad for cushioning a stepladder when a worker carries it.
2. Description of Related Art
U.S. Patent Application Publication US2002/0046904 of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/784,270 filed Feb. 15, 2001 by David J. Richard teaches to attach a soft pad to the inner side of a stepladder rail to provide a cushion when a worker carries the stepladder on his or her shoulder. Richard teaches that the pad should include an interior core of “Styrofoam or ethafoam fill covered with material such as “canvas, fabric, foam, nonelastic material such as polypropylene or a flexible material such as rubber, nylon or spandex”, and that the pad should be attached to the rail by such means as “Velcro, rivets, a plethora of snaps or sticky back adhesive.” Styrofoam and Ethafoam are Dow Chemical Company brand names for lines of polystyrene and polyethylene foam.
Richard's pad can prevent a stepladder from injuring a worker's shoulder, but attaching such a pad to the stepladder can be problematic. When the pad employs attachment devices such as rivets and snaps requiring the pad installer to form holes in the stepladder rail, the holes can weaken the stepladder, void stepladder warranties and violate safety regulations that prohibit modifying stepladder structural members.
An adhesive can attach a pad to a stepladder rail without structurally damaging the stepladder, but while some adhesives may bond well with one or more of Richard's suggested pad cover materials, and other adhesives may bond well with one or more commonly used stepladder rail materials such as aluminum, steel and fiberglass, it may be difficult to provide an adhesive that can securely attach any one of those pad cover materials to every type of stepladder rail material under all temperature conditions. Adhesives can be messy and difficult to use, may not work well when installed while the stepladder rail is too cold or dirty, can make it difficult for a worker to reposition the pad or to replace the pad when it is worn out, and may fail in the presence of water or other solvents.
Richard's pad is relatively expensive to manufacture since it includes several parts (cover, fill, attachment device) that must be separately manufactured and assembled. Depending on the cover materials used and the manner in which its seams are sealed, Richard's pad may absorb water and other liquids including solvents that may damage the pad or fill material.
What is needed is an inexpensive stepladder pad that can be easily mounted on a stepladder rail without modifying the rail and without adhesives, that can be easily repositioned or replaced, that does not absorb liquids, and that is not damaged by water and most commonly used solvents.